It is generally well known that hitting a thrown ball in, for example, fast pitch softball is extremely difficult. This is largely due to the trajectory of the ball as it travels upwards toward the batter and the reaction time necessary for the batter to make contact with the ball. In many case where the batter has an “upper-cut” swing, meaning that the batter's hands move from a low-to-high position as the batter swings the bat, the difficulty in making contact with the ball is increased since the bat is moving at an opposite trajectory from the ball. As such, a training apparatus which reinforces a swing where the batter's hands either move from a high-to-low position or in a similar trajectory to the ball, would be useful in reducing the difficulty in hitting a thrown ball.